In Christian marriage, we don’t seek for our partner to meet our needs, but to share Christ’s bounty.
Jesus called it “the doctrine of Balaam” (Rev 2:14). What was it, and why should it be an issue still in the Church Age? Marriage was the first divinely-ordained institution, and so the first attack-point of the enemy. The whole creation came crashing down when Eve allowed the serpent to stir in her a desire to act independently. Rather than leading, Adam only followed. He knew better. It was a debacle—a debacle that led to a religion! At Babel, rather than worshipping the Father, they replaced Him with the worship of the mother, Semiramis, wife of Nimrod, Noah’s great-grandson. Centuries later, the Lord initiated a great rescue of humanity by calling Abram out of idolatry and building a nation through whom He would bless the world. What happened? Again marriage was attacked, driving a wedge between Abram and Sarah. Although the relationship was restored, Hagar’s offspring to this day seek the destruction of the chosen nation. Following the exodus from Egypt, just at the doorstep of Canaan, the Moabites hired “Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality” (Rev 2:14). If the Lord was going to have a people from whom would come the Savior, it couldn’t be “that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands” (Ezra 9:2). God had warned them of this (Ex 34:12-16; Deut 7:3-4). Ignoring or rejecting God’s instructions is a sure path to Heartbreak Hill. Thus the solemn task for Ezra and Israel’s leaders to restore the moral foundations of marriage in Israel. But we shouldn’t leave this lesson without offering a heartfelt prayer to the Lord for the preserving of besieged Christian marriages today.